Transmission Project - FCC

The media prophets report no future for capacity building of Community Media

Howie Fisher — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 15:10:28 +0000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Date: June 13, 2011
Contact: Belinda Rawlins, (617) 287-7371, belinda@transmissionproject.org

BOSTON – The FCC’s “The Information Needs of Communities,” released last Thursday, represents a departure from previous reports in that it more fully recognizes community media outlets as key providers of digital and media literacy. However, the report misses the opportunity to make specific recommendations for strengthening and expanding these organizations’ ability to meet the needs of communities:

We applaud the community media centers that have moved to become key venues to help train citizens in digital literacy. We recommend that community media centers explore ways to help increase digital literacy and broadband adoption, and that policymakers consider community media centers as a resource that can aid in efforts in those areas. (357)

The Transmission Project has ten years of experience building the capacity of community media organizations that deliver digital and media literacy. A national service initiative, our Digital Arts Service Corps places volunteers with organizations to complete yearlong capacity building projects. In fact, many of the report’s examples of strong community media organizations have benefited from our Digital Arts Service Corps. The report mentions CAN TV in Chicago, Cambridge Community Television, Boston Neighborhood Network, Media Bridges Cincinnati, and Saint Paul Neighborhood Network (SPNN), whose Community Technology Empowerment Project emerged out of a collaboration with the Transmission Project.

In the past, the FCC has explicitly acknowledged the value of service-based models in promoting digital literacy. It is therefore disappointing that missing from the report is any recommendation regarding what role service and volunteerism should play in meeting the digital literacy needs of communities. Recommendation 9.3 of the FCC’s National Broadband Plan provided a framework for the creation of a National Digital Literacy Corps under the NTIA that would possibly entail a collaboration with the Corporation for National and Community Service. The Plan also recommended capacity building of digital literacy partners under IMLS. As neither of these recommendations has come to fruition, the newly released report served as an opportunity to elaborate on or explore alternatives to the previously proposed partnerships.

The FCC’s “The Information Needs of Communities” alludes only once to volunteer corps when it criticizes the possibility of AmeriCorps volunteers serving as journalists. Indeed, Transmission Project Executive Director Belinda Rawlins provided the FCC report’s working group with comment to the same effect. The report echoes her words:

There is one public-private partnership we think would be a bad idea: some have suggested creating a federally-funded AmeriCorps program for journalists. Journalism should often be about challenging powerful institutions, which sometimes will draw political fire and controversy. AmeriCorps has grown and prospered by focusing on the forms of service on which most Americans can agree, such as tutoring, helping seniors, or working for Habitat for Humanity. Creating a government-financed AmeriCorps for reporters would potentially seriously harm AmeriCorps. (357)

Although the report correctly defines the limits of AmeriCorps involvement, it declines to discuss how other corps models can help. Paid volunteers should not be barred from building the capacity of community media organizations. The Transmission Project is pained to see that the report’s working group seems unable to imagine a role for national service in helping to build a robust, diverse media infrastructure beyond directly serving journalistic enterprises.

We are still taking in the sizable report, and in the coming weeks we plan to explore in more depth various digital and media literacy curricula. In the meantime, we hope readers will refer to the Transmission Project’s previous statements on service corps models and digital literacy.

“Google Announces Launch of Technology Corps”

“In Pursuit of New Literacies”

The Transmission Project amplifies the power of public media and technology. The Transmission Project supports a diverse network of partner organizations that serve communities nationwide. Through our primary initiative the Digital Arts Service Corps, we recruit and place full-time AmeriCorps*VISTAs (Volunteers in Service to America) with organizations to complete specific, yearlong capacity building projects.

Regulatory Research VISTA

admin — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 15:07:51 +0000

Does the FCC share our vision?

admin — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 17:09:57 +0000

We’re thrilled the the FCC is unveiling the National Broadband Plan today. While reading through the executive summary, we were happy to discover similarities between the FCC’s proposed impact and our vision. The vision of the Transmission Project is a robust and diverse media ecology enabling a world built upon the full participation of society. From the FCC, under the heading of “Government performance and civic engagement” the plan includes recommendations to:

Increase civic engagement by making government more open and transparent, creating a robust public media ecosystem and modernizing the democratic process.

The FCC also shares our programs too: proposing a Digital Literacy Corps similar to our Digital Arts Service Corps. Needless to say, we’re excited!

(The visioning flipcharrts are from our archives.)

FCC Proposes a Digital Literacy Corps

Ben Sheldon — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:06:11 +0000

At today’s Digital Inclusion Summit, FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn introduced the National Digital Literacy Corps as a recommendation within the to-be-announced National Broadband Plan:

The central feature in this program, the proposed National Digital Literacy Corps, is similar to programs like AmeriCorps and SeniorCorps. The Digital Literacy Corps will mobilize hundreds of digital ambassadors in local communities across the country. This is about neighbors helping neighbors get online. The Corps can target vulnerable communities with below-average adoption rates like low-income housing developments, rural towns, Tribal lands, and areas populated primarily by racial and ethnic minorities.

Our country has long recognized the power of education and information, particularly for those who face other disadvantages. Frederick Douglass once said, “Once you learn to read, you will forever be free.” Nothing can open more doors for a person than literacy. But knowing how to read is no longer sufficient to be “literate” in the 21st Century. Basic literacy must be supplemented with digital literacy.

The Commission already has experience in a related program that gives us confidence in its ability to succeed. During the waning months of the DTV transition, the FCC enlisted the help of AmeriCorps to go out into communities across the country to help consumers hook up their converter boxes in order to ensure that they would continue to receive free, over-the-air television following the transition. Young men and women fanned out across the country – from right here in Washington, D.C., to New Orleans, Denver, and Los Angeles. They were welcomed into people’s homes, and helped them get ready for the transition and beyond.

That same spirit can be applied to the longer-term goal of helping our nation’s citizens gain the necessary digital literacy skills to participate fully in all that broadband has to offer. Using people from within the community to help their neighbors can go a long way to ensuring that people are able to use the Internet safely, and to its fullest potential.

Some non-adopters, particularly older Americans and those who are not touched by technology in their communities, may be uncomfortable operating a computer or might be worried that being online exposes them to excessive dangers. Helping those people understand basics about computers and the Internet may be enough to get them online.

A recent study commissioned by the Social Science Research Council highlighted the role of communities in supporting digital literacy. Non-adopters and new users, especially those in low income and minority communities, often rely on the assistance of others to get online or provide one-on-one support. This fact is also why we recognize the need for continuing investment in public access points like libraries and community based organizations.

We have talented young people graduating college committed to doing volunteer work in their communities, who may be unable to find jobs right away. And we have workers laid-off mid-career searching for employment opportunities that require a new set of skills. The Corps can put these people to work building our nation’s digital skills and building upon its history of grassroots action and community service. Then our country and all of our people will be prepared to compete in the 21st Century global economy. It can help ensure that the online community is an inclusive one.

The principle of inclusion is part of the foundation of our democracy. It is embedded in the statute that created the FCC. And it must be at the heart of the National Broadband Plan.

Together, we can work to ensure that the rich promise of our technological future reaches all Americans, and that all Americans can take advantage of all that broadband has to offer. This is our aim, and this is our responsibility.

Here at the Transmission Project, we can’t help but notice the marked similarity this has to Recommendation #12 of the Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities. Commissioner Clyburn’s remarks do integrate our criticisms of that recommendation—that the Corps itself must model the inclusion it serves to create. This plan focuses both on young adults as well as mid-careerists.

No plans yet recognize the potential for creating a corps of retirees to serve as digital liaisons to their peers, or to harness retiree’s (and others’) experience in building the organizational capacity of public media and technology organizations who have been on the front-lines of technology adoption for quite some time.

FCC & Knight Foundation Digital Inclusion Summit

admin — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:12:47 +0000

FCC & Knight Foundation Host Digital Inclusion Summit at Newseum on March 9

Media Advisory: FCC & Knight Foundation Host Digital Inclusion Summit at Newseum on March 9

Summit Includes Overview of Working Recommendations
for Broadband Adoption in FCC’s National Broadband Plan

The Federal Communications Commission and the John S. and James. L. Knight Foundation are hosting a March 9 summit to highlight solutions to the challenge of providing broadband for everyone. Called America’s Digital Inclusion Summit: Working Together to Expand Opportunity Through Universal Access, the event will be held at the Newseum and feature a wide range of broadband leaders, including FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, Knight Foundation President and CEO Alberto Ibargüen, Lafayette, La. City-Parish President Joey Durel, FCC Commissioners Michael Copps, Mignon Clyburn and Meredith Attwell Baker, and members of Congress. The program will include a “voices of inclusion” segment providing an opportunity for people to share their stories about how broadband – or the lack of it – has affected their lives. The event is open to the press and public.

Nearly a third of American households lack broadband access at home, even when it is available in their community. The program will unveil some of the working recommendations in the FCC’s National Broadband Plan for increasing the nation’s rate of broadband adoption, a critical goal in an era when broadband is central to education, job search and training, economic development, and the information needs of communities. An Inclusion Showcase will demonstrate applications and programs that are already working to effectively bridge the digital divide and promote broadband adoption.

* WHAT: America’s Digital Inclusion Summit
* WHERE: The Newseum, 555 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, D.C. (map)
* VIDEOCAST: FCC Commission Room, 445 12th St. SW, Washington, D.C. (map)
* WEBCAST: www.fcc.gov/live
* WHEN: Tuesday, March 9, 9:00 am to 12:15 pm. Continental breakfast available at 8:30 a.m.
* PRE-REGISTRATION REQUIRED at www.digisummit.org

Broadband according to the FCC?

Ben Sheldon — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 16:46:29 +0000

When we attended the FCC’s workshop last week, one of the handouts was the FCC’s consumer publication Broadband Brochure. While informative, the publication does not break any new ground definitely: broadband is defined as “faster than dial-up service and it doesn’t tie up your telephone line like dial-up often does”; nor metaphorically:

To better understand the differences between dial-up and broadband, it might help to envision the Internet as a pipeline for information. If the pipeline is narrow, less information can fit. Bigger pipes allow for increased and more complex information to flow back and forth – bringing content and information to you at faster speeds. Dial-up uses narrow pipes. Broadband uses increasingly fatter pipes that allow much more complex information to flow at faster speeds, including complex graphics and videos.

The glossary of terms in the back is of equivalent depth:

bandwidth - The capacity of your broadband connection to send and receive the data. The higher the bandwidth, the faster the transmission of data. Bandwidth is measured in bits per second.

blog - An online, chronicle journal; short for “weblog.”

download - To transfer a file or files from one computer to another, for example, from a server to your desktop computer. Download is the opposite of upload.

e-mail - Messages sent via the Internet. E-mail can be everything from simple messages or can contain pictures, video - even voice.

encrypted - Encrypted data is data that has been converted so it cannot be easily understood by unauthorized people.

instant message (IM) - A way of communicating with another Internet user by way of simple text-based chat .

IP address - A numeric code number assigned to the computers in a network. A static IP address is permanent. A dynamic address always changes every time you connect to the Internet.

Internet Service Provider (ISP) - A company that provides its customers access to the Internet.

modem - The device that connects your PC to the Internet.

social networking - An online community of people who are socializing with each other via a particular website.

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) - A technology that allows you to make and receive calls over the Internet.

webcam - A simple video camera that connects to your computer and enables you to send live and recorded video as well as still pictures via the Internet.

WiFi - Wireless broadband. Available in many public locations.

Overall the booklet touts the benefits of broadband, but near the end waffles a bit: the section entitled “How can I get it” includes both dial-up and broadband; the “it” apparently referring to the Internet in general. Fortunately they do mention libraries, public computing centers and “retailers”, too.

Not to pick on the FCC, but if these issues require broad and substantial dialogue (as we believe they do), then the dialogue should be framed with meaningful and informative descriptions.

Observations on the FCC Open Internet Workshop at MIT

Ben Sheldon — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 17:06:50 +0000

The Transmission Project staff took a field-trip to yesterday’s FCC Workshop on Innovation, Investment and the Open Internet. As a 3.5 hour, 12 panelist show (plus 2 moderators, a introductory framer, a commissioner and a video introduction from Chairman Genachowski), it was surprisingly engaging. The key question of the evening seemed to be framed as “Business isn’t so bullish on internet anymore, what’s changed?”

Despite the contemporary focus on Net Neutrality, that phrase was nearly never mentioned. Instead, the panelists answered the key question of “what’s changed?” from a number of angles:

New technology enabling better (or worse, depending on POV) Quality of Service (van Schewick, Standford Law);
Market Power or absence of robust competition for ISPs (Greenstein, Kellogg/Northwestern);
Declining profitability of network deployment (Weldon, Alcatel-Lucent);
Declining interoperability, especially on mobile networks (Glueck, Skyfire);
Shared ethos and goodwill have been replaced by business management and unclear rules (Berners-Lee, W3C; and Hyatt, Conduit Labs);
Network management/QoS inconsistency between networks (David Clark, MIT);
The looming threat of as-yet-undefined regulation (Kim Riley, Camiant);
Government and Google threats (Tykeson, BendBroadband);
The internet has moved from an emerging platform to an established one (Yoo, UPenn Law)

The primary takeaway I had was “Network Management/Quality of Service (QoS) is acceptable (even beneficial) so long as it is initiated by the user, not the network or application provider”. Everyone on the panel seemed to agree that this was acceptable, and innovation would emerge around the mechanisms and models for providing this to users.

No one talked about vertical integration of networks and content providers: Comcast-NBC was mentioned just once near the end. Tim Berners-Lee was the only person on the panels who tried to represent the point of view of a end-user: indifference to the network architecture and concerns over personal privacy.

In regards to how the FCC could act, David Clark made a plea for FCC-led facilitation for consistency among network providers, rather than regulation.

Outside the panel, Brough Turner (sitting in the row in front of us) told us that much of the workshop discussion was moot: the current US economic model for network deployment won’t create robust competition.

The diversity scorecard of the panel was 11 men, 6 women; 12 white, 5 not.

Top 10 items in my download folder that I keep coming back to

Belinda Rawlins — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 22:47:53 +0000

1. Powerful People Make Good Decisions Even When they Consciously Think
Is it the way you think that is affecting your decision-making or your power position?

2. The Future of Public Media FAQ and Public Media 2.0: Dynamic Engaged Publics
Jessica Clark synthesizes all things public media. I think I’ll consider her my personal moog.

3. Process is Powerful: Planning and Evaluation for Media Artists
“The purpose of grounding our work in principled practice, strategic planning and evaluation is so that we can develop the knowledge and methods to respond quickly and effectively to situations without being thrown off course and without being derailed from our long-range goals.” Word.

4. Cry Baby Cry – Van & Titus
Oh, wrong list. But I can’t take it off…it’s too good.

5. Maximum Performance – Different Things to Different People
Part of my honest practice philosophy that I’m cultivating, this article offers a variety of frameworks to assess organizational effectiveness.

6. Net Neutrality’s Impact on Low Income Communities: Equal Access for All
A fabulously wonky mix of stories, stats, and smack down, this doc from Public Knowledge makes the case and rebuts the arguments.

7. The Great Leap of Faith
It might be a couple of years old now, but I frequently find myself thinking back to Ginny Berson’s reflections on the changes facing community radio. And then I wonder what she’d change in those reflections today.

8. Same Old Song: An Analysis of Radio Playlists in a Post-FCC Consent Decree World
Didn’t payola die with Alan Freed? Funny, radio play was easier then than it is now. Uncovering the structures that shut out voices of new artists is the first step to reform.

9. The ACORN 361 Affiliated Organizations list
Are you sure you’re not on it? Did you even know that there was a list?

10. A Field Report: Media Justice Through the Eyes of Local Organizers
Before deciding it’s time to work with non-media focused groups, you’ve got to read this.

FCC Broadband Workshop: Broadband Accessibility for People with Disabilities

Belinda Rawlins — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 18:22:48 +0000

Barriers, Opportunities, and Policy Recommendations will continue the open discussion among the FCC and all who have a stake in the future of broadband and its accessibility for people with disabilities, including the disability community, network and service providers, equipment manufacturers, and software producers, technologists, economists, academics, representatives from trade associations and non-profits, and representatives from tribal, local, state, and federal governments.

The goal of this follow-up workshop is to clearly identify (i) accessibility and affordability barriers faced by people with disabilities in accessing broadband capabilities; (ii) opportunities that broadband can present for people with disabilities; and (iii) policy recommendations that will address the barriers to broadband for people with disabilities and maximize the opportunities related to broadband for people with disabilities.

In conjunction with the panels, there will be exhibits of assistive technologies that are used by people with disabilities to access broadband technologies as well as universally designed mass market broadband technologies that can be used by people with disabilities.

Airshifter Handbook: Community Radio Manual

Ben Sheldon — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 16:05:44 +0000

This Airshifter Handbook is an introductory manual for Radio Free Urbana, a community radio station in Urbana, IL. This manual contains the history of Low Power FM radio, information on programming and a broad overview of operations at the station. It was created by VISTA member Stephen Fonzo serving at the Independent Media Center in Urbana, IL.